Did my 2nd great grandmother, Margaret (Miller) Hinman, die in 1936 or 1938? There appear to be sources that support the possibility of both! Furthermore, did she typically spell her name as Margaret or Margret? While spelling variations are quite common throughout history, nailing down a subject’s preferred spelling or pronunciation of their own name further rounds them out as a person.
Week 26: Conflict
Margaret Miller, circa 1870.
Mrs. Margaret Hinman was born Margaret Miller on 11 Nov 1853 in Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, New York, to immigrant parents Charles and Agnes Miller of Ireland. In her teen years, the family moved south to Boone County, Iowa, where she met her husband, Frank Rymer Hinman. She married at the age of 21 and quickly began raising a brood of five. In the mid 1890s, the family temporarily homesteaded in Smith County, Kansas, but eventually returned to Boone, upon realizing their settlement in Kansas was not bearing fruit. She and Frank remained in Boone until 1925, when Margaret seemingly hit an unlucky streak. Her husband, a sister, and a brother all passed away that same year. Margaret was 71 years old.
In the years following, Margaret moved out to the west coast to be near her sister, Mary Ann Wells (Miller) Webb, who was living in Santa Monica, California. Mary had a son, Clarence Emerson Webb, who became Santa Monica’s very first Chief of Police. Clarence’s daughter, Fay, married the famous saxophonist Rudy Vallee.
Santa Monica police chief Clarence E. Webb and daughter Fay Webb.
Saxophonist Rudy Vallee and on-again, off-again wife Fay Webb.
Another of Mary’s sons, Perry, became a clerk for the court. And one of his daughters, Mary Madeline, was even a princess in the Rose Bowl Parade of 1931, so the family had some notoriety in the city.
Police court clerk Perry H. Webb.
1931 Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade princess Mary Madeline Webb and grandmother Mary Ann Wells (Miller) Webb.
Unfortunately, Mary passed away in 1934, two to four years prior to Margaret, and I’m not aware of any other siblings or cousins in the area to keep Margaret company, aside from her Webb in-laws. This could explain why I’ve yet to uncover any obituary for her – either in CA or IA. It is possible her daughter Fanny lived in the Pasadena area around this time.
She was buried with her sister in the Webb family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica. Her tombstone reads MARGARET HINMAN 1853 – 1938. This obviously indicated she died in 1938.
Margaret (Miller) Hinman headstone, Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica, California.
However, I have made two attempts so far to retrieve a death certificate and have received no response to my inquiries. Then, the California Death Index was published on Ancestry.com and reported that she died in Orange, California, on 16 Mar 1936, two years PRIOR to the date listed on her headstone!
CA death index, Margaret Hinman, Mar 1936.
Could this possibly be a different Margaret Hinman, since this one is living in Orange County? While it’s possible, it doesn’t explain why a Margaret Hinman does not appear on the index in 1938. She also appears in California city directories after disappearing from Iowa city directories. Plus, one such city directory in 1937 lists her as living in Huntington Beach, where my father knew her daughter (his grandmother, Ethel) to have lived.
The major conflict then becomes how she appeared on a 1937 city directory if she passed away in 1936. It’s possible the publication of the city directory was delayed by a year, but then if that’s the case, her headstone was inscribed a year too late.
Margaret (Miller) Hinman.
There are a few more avenues I can use to answer this question and resolve this conflict, such as contacting the Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica for any associated burial records that are still in existence, looking up land records for her known Huntington Beach address for any clues there, and contacting both the LA and Orange County courts again for a certificate of her death.
In addition to her death date having a conflict, her first name does as well. While her headstone reads MARGARET, two of her daughters listed her name as MARGRET on their social security number applications which I found quite interesting.
Marie (Hinman) Finnell social security application.
Ethel (Hinman) Eggenberger social security application.
However, she was the informant on her husband’s death certificate in which she signed as Mrs. Margaret Hinman, so the conflict there can at least be put to bed! I look forward to solving the mystery behind her passing soon.
2024 Update: An obituary has finally turned up for Margaret from a small-town paper, local to the Venice neighborhood (near Santa Monica, CA), indirectly confirming her death occurred in 1938! The CA Death Index was printed with quite smudged ink, so that could be the reason why the year appears as 1936, and hence, why it was also transcribed that way. Now that it's affirmed her passing occurred in the limits of Los Angeles County, it would be a good time to try for a death certificate once more.
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